Brabus D6 III Tuning box. Anyone fitted one?

[kid-jensen]

As long as you keep a bit of distance from the hot things (exhaust manifold etc) the under bonnet temperatures on the W164 are not too high.

If you were concerned about water ingress, just apply some silicone sealer around the interface of the plug/socket with the traditional wet finger...

 

[ptruman]

Well, wish me luck. I've found a unit for my E350 231BHP model, at £300 with loom. It should give 270BHP assuming all is well. Hopefully it's en route from the Mercedes motherland (Germany)....

My warranty is up this month, and I'm now at 70K miles...so I could renew warranty or....fit the box....

Insurance will go up by £105 p/a, which isn't much, so.....

 

[lordlee]

Well, wish me luck. I've found a unit for my E350 231BHP model, at £300 with loom. It should give 270BHP assuming all is well. Hopefully it's en route from the Mercedes motherland (Germany)....

My warranty is up this month, and I'm now at 70K miles...so I could renew warranty or....fit the box....

Insurance will go up by £105 p/a, which isn't much, so.....

The first time you put your foot down from 60mph you'll know you made the right choice. You barely need to flex your right foot as the torque is so punchy that the revs are rarely required.

 

[ptruman]

Does it make much difference on general pull away?
(I see the 0-100 (km/h) loses .5 a sec)

 

[lordlee]

Does it make much difference on general pull away?
(I see the 0-100 (km/h) loses .5 a sec)

I'm not one for a traffic light GP but she can pull her skirt up and move if she wants. I have to say it doesnt feel right to me though - better to ride the torque curve.

 

[ptruman]

Just wondering what it might do to the leisurely "C" acceleration of "Oh, hang on, do you want to move?"....

It's been posted - I just hope it arrives :\

 

[br1anuk]

Has anyone come across a Brabus D6S box? Ive been looking for one for 12 months for my 2014 E350.
Thanks
Brian.

 

[ptruman]

Right, my D6(III) for my E350 has arrived.
Back to my previous post about routing the cable from the fuse box "into" the car, I've had a look tonight, and the German instructions state:

Para 1 : As shown in Figure 2, mark the point at which the cable of the BRABUS ECO-PowerXtra must be routed. Drill the opening of the side cover with a suitable drill bit and then expand it to a diameter of 35 mm, to ensure a receptacle of the supplied rubber grommet. Please refer to the pictures below.

Para 2 : Insert the connectors (plugs 2-6) of the BRABUS power kit through the side cover opening. Please note the direction of the execution. Mount the supplied grommet to seal the bushing and fix the cable in the bushing with a cable tie (Fig. 10, 11). Please make sure beforehand that the cable length is sufficient to lay the plug behind the lower dashboard trim.

Para 3 : Route connector 1 of the PowerXtra power module above the module carrier into the interior of the vehicle, beyond the lower dashboard trim. When laying the cable, make sure that the red area in the cable is not kinked. Lay the cable so that it is not damaged by sharp edges or similar. can be damaged.

So, I've removed the fuse box cover and found the side cover (in Para 1), which pulls out nicely (getting it back in however is a total shite as all the wires it's holding in then move outward, so I had to jerry them back in with the side of a pallet knife.... :\

I've also got a replacement grommet (Para 2) on order as my kit doesn't have one.

The "fun" bit is Para 3, where it glibly states "route it into the cabin". The pic (below) implies you need to lift up the fusebox, which implies (from what I can see) removing 4 screws - 2 of which are located right under a lip and would therefore be a total **** to get at without a very short, 90 degree ratchet. The pic below clearly has the fuse box "lifted up"?

When I looked at my car, I could not see the hole marked with the arrow, presumably as it's at the back....



What do the collective think?
Also, it boggles how the previous owner got it OUT of their car, it's not a nice shaped connector, and I'm presuming yanking it back up the hole would catch something?

 

[kid-jensen]

My instructions said mount it under the bonnet, so I did, but kept it away from anything hot.

Never had any problems in the hot weather.

The performance didn't feel particularly improved, but when I did a 0-60, it was down to 7.3, which is about a second less than the official figures.
Just shows how much the "seat of the pants" feel is not much of an indicator.
It seems to hold on to first gear longer when you really mash it, so I guess that would help, so long as they also increases the power at high revs, which I guess they do.
As mentioned, it's the mid-range torque which seems to be increased the most.
Unfortunately, it was only a "loan" box, so it had to go back. I'd definitely recommend one though.

 

[ptruman]

It's definitely going to be tested first in two ways before I try to shove it anywhere "properly"

a) To make sure the wiring harness is ok - connect it up and start the car - if the harness is damaged it probably won't start
b) Test drive to ensure nothing stupid happens (my X-Type had "issues" with a BlueSpark box....stuttering etc)

The cable length from the main harness to the box is "long" (as it has to cope with the run into the cabin) so may have to do something inventive there.

Next stupid question - it says to connect to the power wire to "Connection Terminal 30" on the battery, ala:



What is the best way to attach this without frying myself or the car?

I'm assuming disconnect negative terminal, then undo positive, add the connector, rescrew, reseat positive and negative...?

Am I liable to have any issues having disconnected the battery? (i.e. COMAND code issues, vehicle memory etc)

 

[kid-jensen]

Can't you use a jump lead to keep the terminal connected whilst you make the connection?

If not, just plug 12V into the wiring loom with a mains charger. Make sure the volts of the charger don't go above say 15V when not loaded.

 

[ptruman]

Don't have a jump lead or spare battery, so just wanted the best way to do it. If I bought a new battery it would effectively be the same risk when changing it

 

[ptruman]

ARGH!

Got back from Dusseldorf this morning, and as it was sunny, decided to have a crack at installing the thing.

After much annoyance as a key piece of my socket set went AWOL (now found), I laid it all out, fitted the first connector ok, and then went to do the "Injector 4" socket.....spot the problem (harness left, car right).



Now, the socket for Injector 1 is *fine*. I've fired an email to [email protected] and hope to get a reply, but was briefly considering just extending the key grooves so it would fit....from what I can *see* the pos/neg wire colours on the car and harness are on the same side - it's just the ****** inserts (top AND bottom)

Most irksome.

 

[sturgeon]

Odd, looks like the plug that's been removed from the car socket in the photo would plug into that and there might be another output to plug into the car socket? Maybe?

 

[ptruman]

There is a another bit. Each harness socket has two bits. One that the car original goes into, and then the harness that connects to the car.

The harness to car socket cannot fit into the car, as the car original plug keys are different.

I.e.

Original:
Car harness -> car injector

New:
Car harness -> brabus harness input -> brabus harness output -> car injector

The car harness to injector connector, and Brabus harness to injector connector are different.

 

[ptruman]

Minor update - have found the part number of the injector connection on the Brabus harness (here - 1685452928) - so tomorrow I'll go read the one on the car, which is clearly different. I have found one (here) but don't have a part number for it yet.

On the car the red wire is to the "flat" side, and on the Brabus harness, it's on the same side, so it may just be a stupid connection thing. Why Injector 1 and Injector 4 connectors would differ, I have no idea...

 

[ptruman]

Adapted the harness today (not the car clips), and everything fits and clips in snugly. Cables all tied down and control unit secured in the engine bay. No warning lights, car starts, go goes, and now pulls like a train.

 

[sturgeon]

Sounds like a result!
Well Done!

 

[ptruman]

It definitely is after I did get a check engine light after just removing/replacing the sensors (not even putting the D6 in) - I think I left one a bit loose.

I was a bit cautious of modding the connectors but the wiring was the same to the pins, it was just the peg keys, so trimmed those so they all fitted and (more importantly) still clipped, and it works.

Total saving of about £1250 against new, shipping etc considered.

 

[sturgeon]

Excellent!